A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II eBook

William Henry Sleeman
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 902 pages of information about A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II.

A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II eBook

William Henry Sleeman
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 902 pages of information about A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II.
were made to coerce them.  All the great revenue contractors and other governors of districts declared their inability to coerce the territorial barons into paying anything, since they had lost the advantage of the prestige of his great name; and the minister found that he must either resign his office or prevail upon his sovereign to recall him.  The King, finding that he must either draw upon his reserved treasury or leave all his establishments unpaid under such a falling off in the revenue, yielded to his minister’s earnest recommendation, and in May 1844, consented to recall Dursun Sing from our district of Goruckpoor, in which he had resided during his banishment.

On the 10th of that month he was taken by the minister to pay his respects to his Majesty, who, on the 30th, conferred upon him additional honours and titles, and appointed him Inspector-general of all his dominions, with orders “to make a settlement of the land revenue at an increased rate; to cut down all the jungles, and bring all the waste lands into tillage; to seize all refractory barons, destroy all their forts, and seize and send into store all the cannon mounted upon them; to put down all disturbances, protect all high roads, punish all refractory and evil-minded persons; to enforce the payment of all just demands of his sovereign upon landholders of all degrees and denominations; to invite back all who had been driven off by oppression, and re-establish them on their estates, or punish them if they refused to return; to ascertain the value of all estates transferred from the jurisdiction of the local authorities to the ‘Hozoor Tehsel,’ without due inquiry; and report, for the consideration of his Majesty and his minister, any nankar or rent-free lands, assigned, of late years, by Amils and other governors of districts; to enforce the payment of all recoverable balances, due on account of past years; to muster the troops, and report, through the commander-in-chief, all officers and soldiers borne on the muster-rolls, and paid from the treasury, but in reality dead, absent without leave, or unfit for further service;” in short, to reform all abuses, and make the government of the country what the King and his minister thought it ought to be.  Dursun Sing assured them that he would do his best to effect all the objects they had in view; and, after recovering possession of his estates, and conciliating, by suitable gratuities, all the reigning favourites at Court, he went to work heartily at his Herculean task after his wonted way.  But he, soon after, became ill, and retired to his residence at Fyzabad, where he died on the 20th of August, 1844, leaving his elder brother, Bukhtawar Sing—­my Quartermaster-general—­at Court; and his three sons, Ramadeen, Rughbur Sing, and Mann Sing, to fight among themselves for his landed possessions and immense accumulated wealth.

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A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.